Yummy

Last night we had a little fun.  Aidric has been very interested in food.  When we eat he squeals and wants to be at the table, then reaches for the food as we eat.  So, we decided to give him his first bite of "food."  He was so excited as we put his bib on and placed him in the high chair.

 With great anticipation he watched me stir the water into the dry rice cereal.

 "Finally, let's see what all this fuss is about."

 Ok, let's try this out.

 "hmmmm that doesn't smell like what you have been eating."

 "That was not was not what I was thinking it would taste like."  It was so cute after each bite he would shiver.  Not so good.

 "Well, maybe I'll just stick to playing with the glass."

 After dinner we had a little dessert.  He again wanted to be held and looked at my food and then at me like "that was not what you gave me."  Well, someday my little boy.  But in the meantime here is this recipe if you would like it at the end of my post.

Some beautiful clouds in the evening.  Sierra had fun taking pictures.

Molten Cake

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup 4 tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar

6 eggs beaten

1 slightly heaping cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tblsp cocoa

raspberries

Grease cupcake pans for 18 cupcakes.  In a double boiler on low heat melt chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate.  Add butter and sugar.  Mix in beaten eggs.  In a bowl combine flour, baking powder and cocoa.  Beat warm mixture into flour mixture with mixer on medium speed until slightly thick, about 5 minutes.  Fill cupcakes with mixture, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze at least 3 hours or until ready to bake.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake 7 to 9 minutes.  Do not overcook.  You want the edges sligtly set and the middle glossy.  While warm loosen with a knife and invert onto a plate.  I then added raspberries and sprinkled with powder sugar.  Enjoy.  

 time.   

The Seasons

Well here it comes, another change of season.  I love it when seasons begin to change.   When winter comes and the first white snow covers the dirty ground, or when spring is in air and the daffodils expose there flowers and the fruit trees shine forth the beginning of new fruit blossoms, or the summer goes into full bloom with all the plants fully dressed in leaves and flowers, my heart beats with excitement.  Today I was driving down the road and saw it.  I have been waiting for it and I saw it.  The beautiful trees beginning to change colors.  The trees were just in the beginning stages.  The stage where they are all rainbowed with color.  There they were with a lovely green stripe, followed by a beautiful yellow stripe of leaves, then at the end a vivid red stripe- all on the same tree. So gorgeous, decorated with the different colors of the season of life it is in.  Kind of like me right now.  I am in a season of life full of much color and changes.  One in where I have been blessed with an array of colors of my season.  One color is that of a mother with an adult child away from home, another with a child just graduated and spreading wings.  Then there is the color of the child entering her teens and another entering her adolescents.  Not to mention the early elementary child, the child with colors all her own, and finally the baby whose year is filled with so many firsts.  They are all apart of my season of life and I am blessed to be sharing this season with my best friend of 23 plus years, my husband.  I looked at myself the other day in the mirror and thought, boy do I looked tired, but I hope what the world sees is that I am colored with the season I am in and am delighted to be blessed with this season of life.  Yes, I do get tired and sometimes it shows but I am so excited with where God has me and wouldn't change one of my colored stripes for the world.

I wish I would have had my camera with me so I could share a picture of that tree with you but since I didn't let me share some lovely pictures of my little ones all streaming with color.  God bless and have a great day.

Mama and baby

Aidric starting to sit on his own

He loves his tongue

Cassandra loves to entertain him

Aidric's first time on swings with the big sissies.

God bless and have a great day.

Alicia

That Time of Year

My poor pantry is looking so sad.  We have almost depleted its resources.  Last year was a prosperous year and this year I have not had a great harvest.  I really have enjoyed the rain we have received the last few day, but other than that it has been a very hot summer.  I especially love the clean smell that comes with the rain.  Hail on the other hand I do not care for.  The other day we had an amazing hail storm that was very hard on my garden.  I'm not sure I have ever been in a hail storm with hail that big.  The hail was exciting and the kids danced around the house amazed by its force.  I was concerned for anyone caught out in the weather.  It was about that time of day when kids are walking home from school, and what about the motorcyclist or homeless.

As a child, my cousin Chris and I were at a family reunion.  We had been down playing at the water when it began raining.  Others had gone back to camp but we didn't mind the rain.  The sky darkened and I remember a sudden wind came up and then pelting hail began beating on us.  The hail really hurt and we were out in the open with nowhere to go.  We had been playing with a tiny raft when the hail came and we squeezed together behind our sad little raft for the shelter it provided.  We began to cry and to that point of my life, I was the most scared I had ever been.  I remember praying out loud trying to pray louder than the storm.  Suddenly we saw my Grandpa's station wagon coming to the rescue.  It drove down the hill and across the sand to us.  We jumped in and with tear stained faces received our answered prayer.  We sat in the car for quite a while waiting for the storm to pass.  It did pass and we are here to tell our story.  I find that effective in life as well.  Sometimes we just need to cry out louder than the storm, receive God's shelter, and wait for the storm to pass.  It will pass and God will be with us through the storm.

So now I must decide what to do about my pantry.  Should I buy some fruit to can or just buy from the store till next year.  My mothers garden has done quite well and she has provided me with cucumbers for pickles.  She actually started a batch of 10 day pickles and let me work on them.  Unfortunately we went camping on day 9 so my mom was so sweet to finish them and can them for me.  Thank you mom.  :)  Then someone at church was giving away the most amazing peaches, so we grabbed a couple bags and made some pies.  I kept a few seeds as a science experiment for my 10 year old to see if we could grow a new tree.  Here are a  couple recipes of them and some pictures.  Have a great day.

God Bless
Alicia

The hail bouncing down

so exciting when you inside

Danika trying it out on her feet

Cassandra collecting some

My poor flattened garden.  

10 day pickles 

 10 day pickles
1 gallon cucumbers-thick sliced or chunked
1 cup salt
  Mix with enough cold water to cover, place in cool place for 2 days (stir/shake each day)

Day 3 and 4
    drain each day and cover with clean water

Day 5
drain and mix with 1 Tbsp alumn, 1 cup apple cider vinegar.  Mix with pickles and add enough water to cover.  Heat and keep hot for 2 hours

Day 6
drain, rinse.  Mix syrup-1 qt vinegar, 5 c sugar, 1 tsp celery seed, 2 sticks cinnamon, 1 tsp whole cloves

Day 7,8,9
heat syrup from off pickles and put back on

Day 10
heat cucumbers and syrup together and put in clean jars and seal.

Peach pie
Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 3 tblsp flour, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and dash salt.  Add 5 cups sliced peaches.  Mix.  Let sit till glossy.  Place in 9 inch pan, dot with 2 tbsp butter.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Seal with top crust.  Bake at 400 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.